Baynard's Castle

View of the site in 2009; the first castle was behind the foreground pier of the
bridge, the later mansion was slightly to the right of that site.

Type

Castle, later mansion

Site history

Built

Before 1017

Materials

stone

Demolished

1666

Garrison information

Occupants

English royalty

Baynard's Castle refers to buildings on two neighbouring sites in the
City of London, between where
Blackfriars station and
St Paul's Cathedral now stand. The first was a Norman fortification constructed by Ralph Baynard and demolished by
King John in 1213. The second was a medieval palace built a short distance to the southeast and destroyed in the
Great Fire of London in 1666. According to Sir
Walter Besant, "There was no house in [London] more interesting than this".[1] The original castle was built at the point where the old
Roman walls and
River Fleet met the River Thames, just east of what is now Blackfriars station. The Norman castle stood for over a century before being demolished by
King John in 1213. It appears to have been rebuilt after the barons' revolt, but the site was sold in 1276 to form the precinct of the great priory of Blackfriars.

About a century later, a new mansion was constructed on land that had been reclaimed from the Thames, southeast of the first castle. The house was rebuilt after 1428, and became the London headquarters of the
House of York during the
Wars of the Roses. Both King
Edward IV and Queen
Mary I of England were crowned at the castle.

The house was reconstructed as a royal palace by
Henry VII at the end of the 15th century, and
Henry VIII gave it to
Catherine of Aragon on the eve of their wedding. After Henry's death the house came into the hands of
Catherine Parr's brother-in-law, the
Earl of Pembroke who built a large extension around a second courtyard in about 1551. The Pembroke family took the side of Parliament in the Civil War, and after the
Restoration the house was occupied by the
Earl of Shrewsbury, a
Royalist. Baynard's Castle was left in ruins after the
Great Fire of London in 1666, although fragments survived into the 19th century. The site is now occupied by a
BT office called
Baynard House, but the castle is commemorated in Castle Baynard Street and the
Castle Baynard ward of the City of London.

Norman castle

Today the
River Fleet has been reduced to a trickle in a
culvert under New Bridge Street that emerges under
Blackfriars Bridge, but before the development of London it was the largest river in the area after the Thames. It formed the western boundary of the Roman city of London and the strategic importance of the junction of the Fleet and the Thames means that the area was probably fortified from early times.[2]Richard of Cirencester suggests that
Canute spent Christmas at such a fort in 1017, where he had
Eadric Streona executed.[3] Some accounts claim this was triggered by an argument over a game of chess; Historian William Page suggests that Eadric held the fort as
Ealdorman of Mercia and after his death it may have been granted to
Osgod Clapa, who was a "staller", a standard-bearer and representative of the king (see
Privileges section).[3]

The castle was inherited by Ralph's son Geoffrey and his grandson William Baynard, but the latter forfeited his lands early in the reign of
Henry I (1100–1135) for supporting Henry's brother
Robert Curthose in his claim to the throne.[7] After a few years in the hands of the king, the castle passed to
Eustace, Count of Boulogne by 1106.[7]John Stow gives 1111 as the date of forfeiture.[8] Later in Henry's reign, the lordship of
Dunmow and
honour or
soke of Baynard's Castle were granted to the king's steward,
Robert Fitz Richard (1064–1136).[7] The soke was coterminous with the parish of St. Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe, which was adjacent to the Norman castle;[9] the soke roughly corresponds to the
eponymous ward of the City of London.[10] Both Dunmow and Baynard's Castle were eventually inherited by his grandson,
Robert Fitzwalter[7] (d. 1234).[11]